Working in Capital Markets/Commodity Trading at an Ibank

[raley]

I know there have been similar topics on this recently, but I haven't seen a specific answer to my questions. I am curious if anyone has any experience in working in capital markets/commodity trading at one of the big investment banks.

I am trying for internships this summer, and at some banks I have to choose between the capital markets group and the investment banking group. Thanks to some very helpful members here and my own reading/research I have a pretty good idea of what ibanking is like, but I have no idea what working in capital markets/commodities trading would be like.

Does anyone have any idea as to the typical payscale (right out of college through MD), progression, hours, quality of life, etc.?

For instance, for ibanking I know you can make 60-80k and a 50-100% bonus out of college, and it is usually 2 years, business school, then associate for 3 years, VP, then MD after 3-5 years if you are good. I know the similar system for consulting now, and am looking to pick up this same kind of knowledge for capital markets/commodities trading.

Thanks a lot for any help you guys can give me!

 

[Joffrey]

you should give the vault.com forums a shot

 

[raley]

Thanks, posted there. I'm sure there are some knowledgeable people but most of them seem like idiots. We'll see.

 

[darkoak]

I never worked in capital markets or commodities trading, but it seems to me that the upward progression is faster than in investment banking, since there is not as much 'structure' as in IBD. The metrics for measuring your success are a lot more tangible, e.g. the P&L of your desk can be measured daily vs. maybe quarterly or annually at an M&A group. So if you perform you can move up fast.

For me, I never really seriously considered capital markets or sales & trading. It's mostly a lifestyle choice. In a capital markets environment, you have very regular hours, e.g. 6 to 6, M-F. You work in a football field size trading floor that is very very noisy and busy. Henry Kravis said it best in an interview: "The second thing that bothered me: I thought, when I am old (that meant 45 years of age), I want to have an office. I don't want to be at some desk yelling and screaming and people hearing what I'm saying on the phone all the time. And I said, that bothers me. These people don't have an office. "

I'm sure other people who have actually worked in capital markets or sales & trading can provide more color.

 

[whnay.]

I can speak from some experience.

Capital markets are composed primarily by specialists in several product areas including:

-Fixed Income
-Syndicated finance
-Leveraged finance
-FX
-Derivatives
-Structured real estate
-Structured finance (securitizations and CLOs)
-Equity orginations

These specialists work along side I-bankers to either provide addition financing in a LBO transaction, sell IPOs or secondary offerings to the market, distribute bonds, etc.

Depending on which group you work in you could be working from 6 to 6 or traditional I-banking hours. For example, the folks that work in syndicated finance work just as long as we do. The guys on the FX desk leave just after the market close.

The progression from what I've seen is fairly similar give or take a few groups, traders for example have high promotion rates but most client facing jobs require seasoning in line with I-banking. Grad school while not required is still a sought after commodity.

 

[skippy upwood]

www.ibankingoasis.com
www.ibtalk.com

The former is very IBD and US oirentated (though with a reasonably active Capital Markets Forums). The latter is capital markets and UK orientated.

 

[bethneyfisher]

I want to share my commodity market experience with you.Most of the time i like to make short term investment.So i prefer the trading.It is less risky.There are a lot of market makers.You can consult to market maker for making investment in trading.
_________________________
For More information visit:CFD Trading and Share Trading